Karachi: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Tuesday has made public its financial report, which shows a loss of Rs 60.71 billion in the first half of 2023.

According to the report, PIA’s loss for six months in 2022 was Rs 41.31 billion as compared to the first six-month loss of 2023 which is Rs 60.71 billion.

The depreciation of the Pakistani rupee against the US dollar resulted in a loss of Rs27.45 billion in PIA’s finances while Rs 30.78 billion was spent on fuel and finance in the first half of 2023 whereas this amount was Rs 48.34 billion in 2022.

The revenue of PIA was recorded by 74 percent, reaching Rs59 billion, surpassing Rs34 billion compared to the previous year, while the operational profit also increased, reaching Rs 4.1 billion.

It is important to note that the reorganization plan for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has advanced due to the impending privatization.

According to details, the PIA management requested submissions from corporate and legal entities for the national flag carrier's restructuring plan.

The Department of Contract Management has been directed to forward the applications by October 6.

The PIA's property, debts, aircraft, and staff will all be moved to the new business, and the PIA will be presented to investors as a debt-free entity ready for privatization.

Washington: The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com on Tuesday, charging the online retailer with harming consumers with higher prices in the latest U.S. government legal action aimed at breaking Big Tech's dominance of the internet.

The lawsuit had been expected after years of complaints that Amazon.com and other tech giants abused their dominance of search, social media and online retailing to become gate keepers on the most lucrative aspects of the internet.

The lawsuit, which was joined by 17 state attorneys general, follows a four-year investigation and federal lawsuits filed against Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms' Facebook.

"The FTC and its state partners say Amazon’s actions allow it to stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices, degrade quality for shoppers, overcharge sellers, stifle innovation, and prevent rivals from fairly competing against Amazon," the agency said in a statement.

The FTC said that it was asking the court to issue a permanent injunction ordering Amazon.com to stop its unlawful conduct.

The FTC said that Amazon, founded in 1994 and worth more than $1 trillion, punished sellers that sought to offer prices that were lower than Amazon's by making it difficult for consumers to find the seller on Amazon's platform.

Other allegations include that Amazon gave preference to its own products on its platforms over competitors also on the platform.

FTC Chair Lina Khan, while a law student, wrote about Amazon.com's dominance in online retailing for "The Yale Law Journal" and was on the staff of the House committee that wrote a report issued in 2020 that advocated reining in four tech giants: Amazon.com, Apple, Google and Facebook.

The need to take action against Big Tech has been one of the few ideas that Democrats and Republicans have agreed on. During the Trump administration which ended in 2021, the Justice Department and FTC opened probes into Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.

The Justice Department has sued Google twice - once under Republican Donald Trump regarding its search business and a second time on advertising technology since Democratic President Joe Biden took office. The FTC sued Facebook during the Trump administration and Biden's FTC has pressed forward with the lawsuit.

Nanjing: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Murtaza Solangi on Tuesday invited the media organizations of SCO countries to partner with Pakistan in joint production and other projects.

Addressing Shanghai Cooperation Organization TV Festival in Nanjing, China, he said the SCO member countries can benefit from each other's experiences and advanced technologies.

He noted that joint productions will help promote culture and tourism in the member countries.

The Information Minister said the media organizations of SCO need to increase cooperation in various fields including joint production and documentaries to promote cultural affinity.

He said being a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Pakistan is committed to promoting media cooperation.

Murtaza Solangi said collaboration in mainstream media and social media is very important to foster people to people contacts.

Alluding to the iron clad friendship between Pakistan and China, the Information Minister said cultural links between the two countries are centuries old and these have been further strengthened by China Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC) framework.

The Information Minister said China and Pakistan have declared 2023 as the year of tourism exchange to promote exchanges at the public level as well as to create a vibrant tourism and cultural ecosystem for the mutual benefit.